KA6U Update - 902 EME Station Ready to Run - 1300UTC August 27, 2023 I am watching the tropical depression that is currently off the Yucatan. It is forecast to become a tropical storm or hurricane and head directly up the I95 corridor where I plan on operating on Monday and Tuesday nights. I will decide tomorrow morning just before I leave Florida (if I do) on whether to proceed with the 902 activation. I will send an email to the 902 mail list at 10:00 AM EDT Monday morning with the decision on whether I will go on the trip or postpone. Peter KA6U
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KA6U Update - 902 EME Station Ready to Run - 2200UTC August 19, 2023 I have finished installing and testing the 902EME station in the roving vehicle. This weekend I completed 5 QSOs on 902 with W5LUA, W5AFY, VE6TA, VE4MA and K5DOG. First time I turned the station on completed QSO with Al W5LUA! The station has switchable H/V polarization and I am running 200W at the feed. RX performance is excellent. On TX I had some problems being heard running 200W. I shortened the TX feedline to 12ft of LMR600, removed the wattmeter and a jumper cable and I was heard better. The smallest station I have worked so far is a 3M dish running 300W. I still need to test with 2.4M dishes. 902 degradation today was -2.4 and for my upcoming trip it will be below -.6 because the Moon will be at perigee. This should help. Hopefully by the end of 2023 I will increase TX power by 4db to 500W at the feed if required. This was my first significant operation on 902. There was deep and rapid fading of signals
KA6U Update - August 17, 2023 - 1100UTC 902 EME Activations August 29-30 (UTC) Next activation will be a short trip to test new 902Mhz EME station. This operation will be 902 only. Operating Plan: Tuesday August 29 0500-0800UTC - EM90 FL followed by EM90 GA 902 EME Operate on FL/GA border. Start in FL move across border into GA (under 30 minutes to move) Operate in GA Wednesday August 30 0600 - 0900UTC - FM04 SC followed by FM04 NC 902 EME Operate on NC/SC border at "South of the Border" tourist trap. Start in SC then move across border into NC (5 minutes to move, location is exactly on border) Operate in NC I will move to the second state during the middle of the time period or when all callers completed for the first state. Due to likely RFI I will try to find a clean QRG. This will be first portable 902 EME operation. Degradation will be extremely low during this time. I will be running W2HRO 2.4M folding dish with 200W at feed, switchable polarity I will have good In